McCain says hypocrisy led to GOP losses / He scolds party as he probes presidential bid

Adam Nagourney, New York Times

Published
4:00 am PST, Friday, November 17, 2006

2006-11-17 04:00:00 PDT Washington -- Sen. John McCain said Thursday that Republicans lost the midterm elections because "we abandoned our principles" on fiscal policy and government restraint, inviting a backlash from Americans over what they saw as widespread hypocrisy.

McCain -- in back-to-back speeches delivered on the day he formally created his presidential exploratory committee -- portrayed the election result as deserved punishment of Republicans for their performance in office, rather than an affirmation of the Democratic Party. Speaking to two conservative audiences still reeling from GOP losses of the House and Senate, he said Republicans can recover from the election, but only if they take lessons from the results.

"Hypocrisy, my friends, is the most obvious of political sins -- and the people will punish it," McCain said. "We were elected to reduce the size of government and enlarge the sphere of free and private initiative. We increased the size of government in the false hope that we could bribe the public into keeping us in office.

"We lost our principles and our majority," he said. "And there is no way to recover our majority without recovering our principles first."

The speeches by the Arizona Republican mark what aides described as the start of a new phase in his likely try for the presidency, though he will make a formal decision on whether to run next year. The addresses, amounting to a sharp repudiation of his own party as well as an unambiguous embrace of conservative ideology, come as Republicans debate what lessons should be drawn from the defeat.

In his speeches to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, and to GOPAC, a political action committee, McCain invoked President Theodore Roosevelt in calling on Republicans to take the lead in reforming spending and lobbying practices in the capital. He attacked pork-barrel spending, corporate welfare, earmarking in appropriations bills and dishonest budgeting techniques.

On lobbying, he said, "Let's ban all gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers and keep lobbyists off the floors of the House and Senate."

McCain used the talks to reiterate his position on Iraq, urging Washington not to take the wrong lesson from the election and arguing that the way to success is through increased troop strength.

"In no other time are we more morally obliged to speak the truth to our country, as we best see it, than in a time of war," he said. "So, let me say this: Without additional combat forces, we will not win this war."

McCain was not without humor Thursday. "In the words of Chairman Mao," he said, "it's always darkest before it's totally black." His audience laughed.